


In more ways than you realize

by judelaw



Category: Captain Marvel (2019)
Genre: (both by the Supreme Intelligence), Bittersweet, Emotional Manipulation, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Torture, Manipulation, Mild Blood, Misunderstandings, Pre-Canon, Pre-Relationship, Protectiveness, Psychological Torture, Violence, Yonvers - Freeform, because I love how everything and everyone related to the film supports my ship, fuck the Supreme Intelligence in general but especially for what it's doing to Yon-Rogg, mostly inspired by the sentence 'Yon-Rogg is protective of Vers' from the Blu-ray Gallery Book, very briefly fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-11
Updated: 2019-07-11
Packaged: 2020-06-26 04:20:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19760464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/judelaw/pseuds/judelaw
Summary: Yon-Rogg was her home. He was her very first memory, the first she actually remembered anyhow. He had accompanied her, had shown and explained Hala and the Kree culture to her. He was still there for her in those nights she couldn’t,didn’t want tosleep, still always opened his door for her. Almost every waking moment they had spent together. They laughed together, teased one another, shared jokes no one else ever understood. He had been her best friend from the minute they’ve met. Heronlyfriend.She felt so lost on Hala, so different from everyone else, like she didn’t belong here – but he made her feel welcome; let her believe she was normal, even if it was just for a moment. Yon-Rogg made her feel found.Thus it hurt even more he had no faith in her.





	In more ways than you realize

“Vers.”

She really didn’t want to reply, to completely ignore him - however childish it would be - but even she realized she didn’t have much of a choice. An acknowledging grunt was the most Vers could manage to signal she had heard him and was listening, something everyone else would have reprimanded her for, yet Yon-Rogg didn’t complain. Under different circumstances she would have appreciated her privilege, appreciated how close she is to him and the liberties that came along with it but right now she was just mad at him. Incredibly mad.

This was supposed to be _her_ mission. For the longest time she had been waiting for the Supreme Intelligence to have enough confidence in her to assign her a task, _a task just for herself_.  
Since she had joined the Starforce two years ago she had been eager to prove herself, eager to get such a chance, to show her true potential, to demonstrate to the Supremor, the team - and especially Minn-Erva – that she was a valuable addition, that she was more than just someone with glowing fists. The trust the Intelligence had substantiated by commanding her to go alone was everything she could have ever asked for.

But apparently it was a trust Yon-Rogg didn’t share.

Vers hadn’t told him about the mission, unsure if she was even allowed to tell him, but seemingly the Supreme Intelligence had informed him themselves. It made sense, of course, to keep him up to date with her progress as he not only was her direct superior and leader of the team she was a part of, he also was her mentor.

However, to her he was so much more to her than just that. Yon-Rogg was her home. He was her very first memory, the first she actually remembered anyhow. He had accompanied her, had shown and explained Hala and the Kree culture to her. He was still there for her in those nights she couldn’t, _didn’t want to_ sleep, still always opened his door for her. Almost every waking moment they had spent together. They laughed together, teased one another, shared jokes no one else ever understood. He had been her best friend from the minute they’ve met. Her _only_ friend.  
She felt so lost on Hala, so different from everyone else, like she didn’t belong here – but he made her feel welcome; let her believe she was normal, even if it was just for a moment. Yon-Rogg made her feel found.

Thus it hurt even more he had no faith in her.

She had expected him to be happy for her, knowing how important this was to her. Maybe even to be proud of her. But instead he had decided to escort her. Vers had wanted to believe that it hadn’t been his idea, that the Supreme Intelligence changed their mind and now didn’t want her to go on her own anymore. Of course that would have still hurt but she’d rather not have the trust of the Intelligence than missing Yon-Rogg’s. Much to her disappointment however they had confirmed there was in fact a lack of support and confidence from her commander.

She was hurt, yes, more hurt than she had ever been by him, but now she only felt her vexation.

“Vers,” Yon-Rogg began again, keeping his voice low even though they were the only people on the ship. She had flown them all the way to this godforsaken planet – apparently he at least had _some_ kind of faith in her piloting skills – without saying one single word to him and it slowly started to become an issue, as much as he wanted to show her some sympathy. They were about to enter the atmosphere, to start their mission. They _had_ to communicate, it was essential to surviving, so he tried it one more time. “Vers, I know you are angry-”

“Amazing observation, Sir,” she responded, eyes fixed on the planet in front of them, partly because she had to focus on the landing but mostly because she didn’t want to look at him.

“ _Vers_ ,” he warned her to not overdo it, that even her leeway had an end. Not even because he believed she had no right to be annoyed with him, she did, but to save face. Her sarcasm which was dangerously close to an insult didn’t actually bother him; the fact that she had called him _‘Sir’_ despite no one else being around, however, was gut-wrenching.

“Anger only serves the enemy,” Yon-Rogg reminded her. “Control your emotions. Stop talking to me for a week if you must but start doing it _after_ the mission. We need to work together.”

“I can do it on my own,” she snapped. If the Supreme Intelligence believed she could why couldn’t he?

Ignoring her answer he repeated his order, this time phrasing it less like a request: “Control it until the mission is over. Is that understood?”

“ _Fine,_ ” she whined. “But I will stop talking to you the moment we leave this planet again.”

The mission was supposed to be easy, a simple burglary, nothing they hadn’t done before - yes, it was nothing she had done before _on her own_ but it wasn’t like this mattered anymore. Scouts had detected a suspicious bunker on a mostly abandoned planet and had found more than enough signs for Skrull activity. It was her, _their_ job to figure out what exactly they were planning and – if the situation was urgent – to put an end to it.

Due to the lack of oxygen in the planet’s biosphere breathing would have been an enormous effort. It wasn’t completely impossible to survive without their suits but keeping their helmets on certainly prevented them from passing out within what the ship’s integrated system had calculated to be between ten and twelve Hala minutes. The surface they were walking on – after having landed in a safe distance from the bunker to avoid getting discovered – was mostly covered with what Vers suspected to be sand, very loose and deep sand that made walking quite difficult.

“Watch out,” Yon-Rogg said rather casual as she just was about to walk straight into a seemingly bottomless hole, distracted by the strange rock formations surrounding them. He knew her incredible reflexes would provide her with enough time to elude the danger, causing him to not being particularly worried.

Jumping over the hole she glared at him: “I saw that.”

“Sure you did,” he took a huge step to cross the same hazard, commenting on her obvious lie. “How many times do I need to tell you to always check the ground first?”

It was embarrassing. Here she was, desperate to prove to him she could succeed on her own, that she didn’t need him, _not anymore_. And yet she was unfocused, showing exactly the kind of behavior he had probably expected.

“Do you think they have a meaning?” Vers quickly asked to change the topic, nodding towards the rocks.

Yon-Rogg shrugged, being not particularly interested in the planet’s history or landscape yet still glad she was trying to have a conversation: “Perhaps they served spiritual purposes.”

He held on to open a map using the suits own navigation system. “According to the records the bunker should be right here,” he starred at the blinking circle that was a part of the hologram and confirmed their position.

Vers looked around, unable to see anything except for the rocks. She even looked down to please Yon-Rogg’s obsession with checking the ground but all she could see was sand. Dusty, red sand. Opening the map herself, remembering this was supposed to be _her_ mission and therefore refusing to let him take the lead, she spun it around in case they were missing an important detail but she was unable to find anything.

“Maybe the records are wrong,” she suggested. “Or they have already left.”

Yon-Rogg didn’t reply at first, following an invisible path with his eyes before his eyes wandered back to her: “If you were hiding on an abandoned planet where even the smallest building would cause a stir, would you leave it out in the open?”

His voice was calm and friendly yet had a hint of superiority in it. Or perhaps she was just imagining it as she really wasn’t in the mood for one of his lectures.

“Not if I wanted to avoid _you_.”

Walking back to the hole they had just left behind them he ignored the answer and signaled for her to move as well. Reluctantly she followed his order yet immediately understood what he was implying. Subsidences were quite common in this endless desert and therefore unlikely to cause any suspicion – in addition the abandonment meant no one would accidentally stumble into it and discover the hideout.

Willing to follow the protocol for holes of an unidentified depth, he kneeled down close to it, typing a few commands into the device on his arm - Vers however didn’t have a high opinion of rules, especially not on this mission, on _her_ mission. Without a second thought she ran straight past Yon-Rogg and let herself fall into the subsidence before he had the chance to stop her.

“Vers! Vers, answer me!”

Her commander’s voice echoed through the darkness of the room she had found herself in. The hole was deeper than she had expected but thankfully fall damage really wasn’t something a Kree usually had to worry about.

She was just about to reply, to tell him everything was alright and that he could stay on the surface to guard the entrance, when he landed right next to her. He really couldn’t stand the thought of letting her do something herself, could he?

“Vers!”

“I know my name by now.”

The complacency she felt vanished immediately when she saw the small glimpse of his face, illuminated by the light coming through the orifice above them. He was _angry_. He has never been angry with her before.

“Do you want to die? Because by continuing to not think first and jump second you will achieve exactly that!” he took a step closer forward, whispering just in case their voices could inform anyone about their presence. “ _Never_ enter unknown territory! How many times do I need to tell you that?!”

“But you jumped as well.”

Yon-Rogg held on for a moment before harrumphing, unwilling to justify himself and his reasons.

“Are you alright?” he finally asked when he had calmed down and his face softened, causing Vers to grin as they both activated their helmets’ night-vision device to not turn on any lights.

“You were worried about me,” she realized, understanding why he had been so uncharacteristically mad at her.

“I’m not looking for to carrying you back to the ship,” he inspected the room and was back at sounding casual. “And your talent for ignoring orders and running straight into easily avoidable deathtraps will certainly lead to that one day.”

“Next time I’ll ask for your permission before running straight into an easily avoidable deathtrap, commander.”

He sighed: “That’s not what this is about, Vers.”

She didn’t bother to retort anything and instead walked into the light shining through the hole to stand right underneath it. “It’s too high to jump,” she observed, looking for some kind of button or at least a ladder that would make it possible for them to leave again. Even though he hadn’t said anything yet, she could already hear his reproaching voice.

“This is why you examine and think first.”

“Seeing as you jumped right into this situation as well you are just as equally responsible to find an expedient,” Vers snapped, knowing he was right.

“Skrulls cannot reach this high either,” walking up to her he looked at the orifice as well. “There has to be a different exit.”

“Perhaps they turn themselves into giant monsters to get out,” she speculated, raising her arms to suggest the size she was thinking about. He really didn’t want to but had to smile.

“That seems quite excessive. And unpractical considering not every Skrull is equally talented in simming.”

She liked her theory better but still followed him out of the room as they had to clear the building before leaving it anyway.

Carefully they made their way around the underground bunker, silently checking and securing every room before moving on to the next. It was quiet. _Too quiet_.

“Is it lunch break?” Vers asked, only partly joking as she could certainly imagine Skrull scientists to have a time period where they were collectively off-duty.

Yon-Rogg, right behind her after they had wordlessly fought over who would walk ahead, frowned. “The lack of Skrulls doesn’t bother me,” he explained, looking over her shoulder to check the corridor in front of them. “The lack of furnishing does.”

She nodded, having noticed the absence of any kind of equipment as well. Every room they had entered had been completely empty. There were absolutely no signs of anyone having ever stayed here.

“Maybe they have left,” Vers wondered and to her surprise Yon-Rogg nodded.

“Maybe.”

They continued to move from one room to another until they stood in front of the last door. This one seemed heavier and thicker than the other ones which was quite auspicious. There just _had_ to be something behind it. “Here goes nothing,” Vers said, pressing against the metal only to immediately stop when she realized it didn’t move. “Now _that’s_ promising.”

“Can you open it?”

After running her fingers over the doorframe, she took a step back, clenching her fists.

“I can try.”

Her powers had always made her special and contributed a huge part to her strength and aptitude for the Starforce. Of course this wasn’t her _only_ skill. Naturally she had brilliantly succeeded in every test the Empire had made her go through - thanks to Yon-Rogg’s training. But her piloting and shooting abilities alone wouldn’t have been enough to let her join the elite warriors of Hala without having properly served before, she knew that.

The photon energy, however, had been scaring her at first, and had made her, even _still_ made her, feel even more alienated than she already did. Back then she had no control over them, couldn’t stop herself from accidentally destroying things – and hurting Yon-Rogg during their training. Not once had he made her feel bad about it, even asked the first few times if _she_ was okay after she had just sent him flying across the room as they didn’t know if the blasts could hurt her too. Vers had cursed at her powers; spend nights wishing she didn’t have them at all. It was their fault other Kree were too anxious to be her friend. It was their fault she ended up regularly hurting her only friend, the only person who _didn’t_ seem to be afraid of her, who _didn’t_ _care_ about how different she was.

But as the years passed by and she got more and more control over them, she realized they also were the sole reason she even had Yon-Rogg. The Supreme Intelligence, after having had blessed her, had given him the task to guide and train her - without them they probably would have never met.

And for that alone it was worth having them.

Vers took another step back, bracing herself for a blast as she felt the small device on her neck slowly starting to vibrate. She was just about to shoot when suddenly Yon-Rogg’s hand rested on her arm, holding her back.

“Don’t,” he whispered insistently. “Whatever is behind that door could potentially get destroyed by the impact.”

Her fists stopped glowing. He was right, she knew that. She could end up killing a Skrull, ruining their chance to interrogate them, or damage something they had been working on, and hence making it impossible to tell what use it had. He was right once again and it annoyed her.

She walked up to the door again, not even caring to hear him suggest a solution – she already had one. It took a lot of concentration but with enough focus she managed to melt the locks and therefore simply _open_ the door instead of destroying it completely. Vers smiled triumphantly.

“Well done!” he complimented sincerely, still getting ignored by her. His praise _did_ mean quite a lot to her but she certainly didn’t feel like showing it right now.

Moving ahead she carefully examined every wall with her eyes, realizing this room, just like the others, was empty as well. “Why would anyone lock an empty room?” she asked, rather talking to herself than actually wanting to get an answer from him.

“ _Vers_!”

She held on, recognizing the panic in his voice, but it was too late. The wire she had stepped on snapped under her weight, triggering a chain of reactions she couldn’t quite follow – all she could see was the explosion, the ball of fire coming towards her, before everything went black.

“ _Yon-Rogg_.”

“Your Intelligence.”

“How long has it been since you brought that Terran to Hala?” the Supremor asked despite knowing the exact amount of time, while looking at him like they were actually interested in the answer. Perhaps they wanted to know if he was keeping track as well or if he was aware he _they_ were keeping track.

He suppressed the urge to correct his leader but they could hear his “ _She is Kree_ ” anyway.

“There is more to a Kree,” their voice echoed through the seemingly endless empty chamber. “Than their blood. Especially a warrior.”

They had always despised his sacrifice to her, _her_ – a simple being, and made sure to remember him whenever possible - not that it was necessary as he was constantly aware of his failures. Yon-Rogg reconsidered for a moment but still held his ground.

“She had already been a warrior before the transfusion, Your Intelligence,” he explained carefully, torn between the need to defend her and not angering the Supremor. “A good one,” he added to prove his point.

Vers had always been special; her powers just were a new addition. Despite being scared she had bravely faced him, unwilling to yield, had even been ready to die for what she believed in. From the very beginning she had been more of a Kree warrior than other _actual_ Kree warriors he had known over the years. She had deserved to live.

“Tsk. You are getting soft, Yon-Rogg,” the disgust in their voice almost made him take a step back but he was aware that would only make matters worse.

“I-”

“How long?!” they suddenly yelled at him, like _he_ had changed the subject of the conversation, making it nearly impossible for him not to flinch.

“Two years, eight months, fifteen days.”

“Four hours, thirty-six minutes,” they continued. “How many mission had she joined?”

Yon-Rogg didn’t understand the point in asking him all those questions but he didn’t dare to doubt his leader: “Eighteen, Your Intelligence.”

The Supreme Intelligence smiled. It was a cold smile, a smile that made him uncomfortable even though it was his own face that was looking at him. Yon-Rogg wondered if he was supposed to report on what exactly she had done in every single one of them as they didn’t continue to speak but decided to wait for further instructions.

“Eighteen,” they mused imitating what he’d describe as a nostalgic expressing as they looked up. “Eighteen. She will go on her nineteenth soon.”

Surprised he raised his head, finally knowing the purpose of this conversation. They wanted her to undergo a test– and Yon-Rogg was confident she would pass it. Using missions as some kind of experiment was nothing new - it was a procedure that had existed long before he was born, it was something he had prepared her for. And Vers was ready.

A planet appeared next to them, one unknown to him but its name didn’t matter so he didn’t ask. He looked at it carefully, watching the simulation zoom onto a certain spot, revealing the image of a desert.

“A Skrull base has been located,” the Supremor explained stepping behind the globe. “She will break into it and do whatever is necessary to stop them.”

Yon-Rogg nodded, wondering what the tasks for the rest of the Starforce were and if they wanted the entire team to go. He didn’t have to phrase the questions for the Intelligence, of course.

“She will go on her own.”

He froze. They were talking about an _entire_ building filled with Skrulls, who were likely developing weapons of every kind, hoping to gain an advantage in the ongoing war. Vers didn’t have the experience for this; none of her previous tasks had been close enough to justify this decision. And even if she had been getting prepared for such an undertaking, it simply was far too dangerous for just one single person to go. This was a suicide mission.

They could kill her or capture – and possibly tortured – her to access her memories to gather more information about the Empire.

“Let me go,” Yon-Rogg requested without thinking. “ _Please_.”

The Supremor stayed seemingly calm but he knew how dangerous this was. Usually he didn’t dare to question his orders, didn’t dare to even _think_ for too long about them – partly because he wanted to be the perfect warrior the Supreme Intelligence wanted him to be and partly because he knew about the punishment that followed doubts. But this wasn’t about him. It was about _her_.

“Hm, are you suggesting I’m not a good leader?” they asked innocently, almost hurt even.

“Of course not, I-”

“Then why are you doubting my judgement?!” it was the second time they yelled at him. Yon-Rogg knew he was on very thin ice but he just couldn’t stop.

“Please, Your Intelligence. Allow me to at least _join_ her,” he pleaded.

“Don’t you have any faith in your student?”

“I do, but…” despite knowing it was pointless to discontinue talking he just couldn’t say it out loud. Not in front of them. He looked away, unable to see the spurious touched expression on the Supremor’s face.

“You don’t want her to get hurt,” their face turned into a mixture of disgust and anger. “You _are_ truly getting soft, Yon-Rogg.”

“She’s a part of my team,” he tried despite being aware they wouldn’t believe a single word he was saying. They knew better than that. “Therefore I’m responsible for her.”

His head was still lowered when they walked up to him, gently placing a hand under his chin. “Look at me,” their first attempt was mellow but when he failed to react within the timeframe they saw as enough, the Intelligence brutally forced him to lift his head. “ _Look at me_.”

He did, trying to hold their gaze without reacting to the pressure they were still exerting on his exposed throat. Physically they couldn’t hurt him – something he was thankful for as it meant he never had any visible injuries from his meetings that would reveal his weakness to every other Kree – but it still hurt beyond belief.

“Look at me,” they repeated once more which Yon-Rogg understood as the warning it was meant to be. “Do you still want to go?”

There was more pressure now, making him feel like he was unable to breathe. He hesitated before using all his strength to nod as speaking was impossible for him. They let go suddenly, nearly causing him to fall over.

“You are willing to risk your life for her?”

Yon-Rogg nodded again but managed to hoarsely reply: “I am, Your Intelligence.”

“ _Beg for it_.”

Begging was one of the things a Kree warrior would never do, they’d rather die – they were _supposed_ to rather die. Yet he fell to his knees without a second thought.

“ _Please_ , Your Intelligence,” a small voice inside of his head reminded him Vers was strong, that she could make it out alive, even unharmed, but the risk was still there and too much to bear. “ _Please_ let me go, Your Intelligence. Please. I’ll do anything.”

They looked down at Yon-Rogg, faking some kind of fondness of him as they slowly ran a hand through his hair. “ _Please_ ,” he repeated causing the Supreme Intelligence to smile. “ _Please_.” Their hand stopped moving and started pulling on the hair on the back of his head to make him look even more desperate.

“You will get punished if you ignore my order and still go,” they explained like they were lecturing a child.

“I know.”

With the same smile they had before they pulled even more forcefully on his hair, causing him to lose his balance and fall onto his back. He didn’t dare to move while the Supremor took their time to move. Leaning over him they shook their head.

“ _You are weak_.”

“Yes, Your Intelligence.”

She remembered the explosion waking up, remembered the luridly bright light that had suddenly swallowed the darkness surrounding her.

It took her a moment to realize she hadn’t gone blind, that the night-vision device had just stopped working. She touched her face, her helmet, to feel the damage, fearing it had stopped functioning completely. But she could still breathe easily.

She remembered the deafening sound that made everything turn silent for a moment, remembered the realization she, _they_ had walked into a trap.

Everything hurt, her _head_ hurt, making it almost impossible for her to focus enough to light up her hand for at least a little bit of brightness. Not that there was a lot it could shine on.

She remembered how something had pulled her back, how _someone_ had pulled her back, _how Yon-Rogg had pulled her back, shielding her body with his own._

_Yon-Rogg._

The light radiating from her fist fell on the body in front of her, revealed the damage the explosion had caused. His suit, a suit designed to withstand even the strongest blows, had broken in several places, offering an escape for all the blood coming out of his wounds. And he was still unconscious, she _hoped_ he unconscious.

“Yon-Rogg! Yon-Rogg!”

The room around them had collapsed completely, unable to hold up the pressure of the sand. They had been lucky, though, as parts of the walls crashed into one another, creating a new room for them. It was small, she was barely able to sit up, but it had saved them from a certain death.

Carefully she crawled to him, not even bothering to check for injuries on herself first.

“Yon-Rogg! _Yon_!”

Tears filled her eyes. She tried to remind herself to control it, to keep calm and be rational, that this could save them, _him_ , that crying, being emotional wasn’t helping _at all_. And she really wanted to follow Yon-Rogg’s lessons, _desperately_ wanted to. But she failed.

“Yon-Rogg!” she didn’t know where to put her hands, _if_ she should even put them somewhere. She didn’t know if she should turn him around, if she should try to wake him up. She couldn’t even remember to check his pulse. “Yon-Rogg!”

“I know my name by now.”

He sounded weak, his voice was barely audible – _but he was alive_.

“Yon-Rogg,” she repeated once more, crying.

“Vers,” he replied, slowly trying to get up. “How many times do I need to tell you to always check the ground first?”

She wanted to laugh as a reaction to the eased tension, the pain she had felt - but seeing him unable to lift himself up by more than a few inches before falling back down with a cry of pain made her suppress another sob instead.

“Stay down,” she ordered, trying to sort her thoughts, to calm herself. She had to get them out of here _somehow_.

“I’ll do my best,” he joked hoarsely, obviously in agony. “Are you alright?”

She didn’t understand his question at first before she quickly inspected her body. There were two cuts on her arm and a smaller one on her left leg but apart from that she seemed to be fine. Thanks to him.

“Yes.”

“Good,” he managed to smile at her. “ _Never_ enter unknown territory. How many times do I need to tell you that?”

She opened the upper part of her helmet to wipe away her tears. “You ran into the deathtrap as well,” she replied. “And look at who needs to get carried back to the ship now.”

He tried to laugh but coughed instead. _His helmet_.

“Can you breathe correctly?” Vers asked, unable to check the function from the outside of his helmet. To her relief Yon-Rogg nodded slightly. “Good.”

She looked around, trying to remember her training. There was nothing she could do about his wounds down here; they’d have to get back to the ship for that. She slowly placed a hand on one of the walls that had save them, careful to not let it collapse right above their heads. Yes, _that_ was the only way.

“You can do it,” he endorsed her, understanding her plan – and her doubts – without any words. “I _know_ you can.”

The light on her fist began to cease, giving them less and less chances to look at each other.

“I don’t think I-”

“ _I trust you_.”

It was completely dark again.

All his life Yon-Rogg had been told a good warrior never showed _any_ emotions. All his life he had been taught to suppress them, had been told that anger, or even happiness, were nothing more than a distraction, that they would only serve the enemy. And he had believed it, _still_ believed it, but on that faithful day at the lake, he – and every Kree he had ever known – had been proven to be wrong. The warrior he was facing was anything _but_ emotionless. She was scared, _showed_ him she was scared, her hands shivering as she pointed Mar-Vell’s gun at him. He hadn’t wanted to kill her, to harm her but he knew he would if it was for the good of all Kree. Yet he had still lowered his gun when she had told him to wait.

He should have _despised_ her. She ruined the success of his mission, destroyed the core the Supreme Intelligence had been after, causing _him_ to get punished for _his_ failure. She symbolized everything he was supposed to hate, he _should_ hate. She was the personification of weakness for a Kree.

And yet he couldn’t help but to admire her.

Her emotions, as much as they could hinder her and cloud her judgement, were her _strength_. She was such an incredible warrior _because_ of them. _He_ had to change, to suppress who he really was to become what he wanted to be but _she_ was born a hero.

Suddenly there was a light, _her_ light that destroyed everything within its path, every wall, every rock, every grain of sand, _everything_ crumbled under her power, vanishing in the crater that was now surrounding them instead of the narrow room. The nearest sun shined down on them as the dust settled, revealing the rocks that had fascinated her so much. They almost seemed to welcome them back, like nothing had ever happened.

She needed a moment to catch herself, feeling dizzy from all the energy her body had generated, before she looked around, seeing – admiring - the whole extent of damage she had caused. The inhibitor rumbled dangerously like it tried to remind her of those limits that hadn’t existed for a moment, causing a stabbing pain she had to ignore for now. _He_ was more important.

“Yon-Rogg?” she asked, carefully touching his shoulder. “I’ll have to carry you on my back to not hurt you further.”

He wanted to pretend he could walk on his own as he just wasn’t worth the trouble his inability caused, but he knew there was no way he could do that. He couldn’t even sit up.

“This is probably going to hurt.”

Yon-Rogg couldn’t climb onto her back on his own so she tried to pull him up by the collar of his suit, hoping to make it work and by awkwardly lifting her own arms over her head and using the leverage of her back. She somehow managed to do it. Vers didn’t commentate on the wincing, knowing how important it was for Kree to not show any pain and not being better than that herself.

“Buckle up,” she ordered when they had finally managed to find a position that made it possible for her to even carry him far enough without him sliding or falling off.

Instead of some clever remark she heard a faint ‘ _yes_.’

“You didn’t lie to me, did you?” Vers asked walking as fast as the sand let her. “Your oxygen supply _does_ work, right?”

His ‘ _sure_ ’ was nearly inaudible.

“For fucks sake!” she couldn’t believe he would lie to her like that. Granted there wasn’t anything she could do about it – at least nothing she _should_ do about it. Giving him her own oxygen, oxygen she _needed_ to carry him to the ship as fast as possible, would only result in the death of both of them. But she would have wanted to know. “I’ll never forgive you if you die on me.”

“Yon-Rogg.”

“Your Intelligence.”

“You have disappointed me,” the Supremor had turned their back to him. “And look where that got you. Injured _. By a Skrull trap_. What a disgrace.”

“I apologize, Your Intelligence,” for a moment he had nearly felt comfortable - at least here he could move freely - but he knew that wouldn’t last long.

“Ah,” they finally turned around. “ _’I apologize’_. You aren’t _sorry_.”

He hesitated.

“No. I regret having disappointed you,” he replied honestly. “But I do not regret my actions.”

They would make him – at least _try_ to make him – regret it the next time he would dare to directly dismiss an order. He was aware of that and braced himself for it.

“You will disappoint me again,” it was more of a sober observation than a prediction or accusation. “All because of that Terran you are so found of.”

“She is a good weapon,” Yon-Rogg tried to argue, fearing their anger would focus on Vers instead of him.

“ _Yes_ ,” they took a step towards him, placing a hand on his shoulder. “In more ways than you realize, Yon-Rogg.” Even without their pressure he fell to his knees, ready to accept his punishment, trying to be _a bit_ more like Vers, to be as brave as her despite his fear.

“I thought you didn’t want to talk to me anymore.”

He appreciated Vers’ visits, they were the only highlight of his day until he’d get to leave the med-bay next week – actually, they were his highlight on _every_ day, no matter _where_ he was -, but he still had to tease her about it.

To his surprise she had refrained from making fun of him. She didn’t even mention the fact that he followed her immediately despite his constantly lectures about running into traps, that _she_ had to be the one who had to carry him. And while he thanked her for her empathy he still missed the jokes between them.

“I decided the better punishment is to _keep_ talking to you,” she grinned. “ _About everything_. _All day_.”

He laughed, ignoring the pain it caused him despite the pills he had taken.

“Have mercy.”

“Hmm,” she pretended to think about his request. “ _No_. Sorry to ruin your fantasies about finally getting rid of me.”

“It was nice to dream,” he smirked. “In fact, imagine how much I _would_ dream if you wouldn’t prevent me from getting sleep every night.”

“The best thing you could dream about is me anyway so really I am doing you a favor,” she teased, not knowing how close to the truth she was.

“You certainly _feel_ like a dream.”

“Really?”

“Like a nightmare.”


End file.
